Tom DeLay is the designated leader of the Republican party in the House of Representatives, and therefore, one of the most powerful men in America. He's one of the darlings of the ultra-conservative religious right, the one who threatened federal judges with impeachment after they failed to intervene in the Terri Schiavo case, even though he pulled the life-support plug on his own father. He is the architect of a political fundraising machine that is being investigated for illegally funneling corporate money to political candidates in Texas. Speaking of architecture, he also designed the new political landscape in Texas through a process we call "gerrymandering," which means he re-drew congressional districts to make the outcome more favorable to Republican candidates. One of his closest associates is a lobbyist who once referred to Native Americans as "troglodytes." He is being investigated for taking a trip to Moscow that was probably illegally paid for by Russian arms dealers, and took similarly questionable trips to Korea and Scotland. At a prayer breakfast for victims of the 2004 tsunami, he read a passage from the Book of Matthew that made it clear he felt they got what they deserved for not being Christians (and also demonstrated he didn't understand what that passage is actually about). When he was admonished by security for lighting a cigar on federal property, he quipped, "I am the federal government." An all-around charming guy